Am I seriously the first person to weigh in on Heated Rivalry? Alright, then! I watched the first two episode. It’s softcore boy porn with intermittent hockey and an undercurrent of daddy issues. I both see and don’t see what the fuss is about.
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Have not watched, but have heard that later episodes really hit.
I feel confident in knowing what will happen (anyone could figure it out), but maybe I’ll go forward with it at some point.
We started Season 5 of Grace on BritBox.
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Well, we finished The Night Manager last night. Not sure what peeps found convoluted about S2. Hugh Laurie makes for a fine villain — almost spider-like — just like Hugh Grant is so much more enjoyable as a nasty prick vs. his bumbling romcom persona.
And while Tom Hiddleston does absolutely nothing for me, that steamy dance scene with Roxana and Teddy… aí papí! Coulda used a cig or a cold shower after that one 
We also watched the first episode of How To Get To Heaven From Belfast, which we enjoyed greatly, much to nobody’s surprise. All episodes are available for streaming 
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Men’s figure skating. I know the outcome already but figured I’d watch anyway.
I was actually unspoiled for the outcome when I watched (just managed to avoid all the breaking news, I guess).
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I’m still gathering my feelings on it but I think it’s the most wholesome bit of smut I’ve seen. I enjoyed it and I think my enjoyment gathered momentum (ep 3 might have been a turning point for me) because yeah, I didn’t know what to make of this because the story felt stuck even as it was delivering pleasure for the audience.
But I think I’m more obsessed about how this show and its success are a fascinating story of media convergence: This is an adaptation of a series that started from the self-publishing/online publishing world and works with instant pay off like microdramas. Maybe you can bring it up with your class? 
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I’m so going to date myself but I remember this came out in the US at the same tie as Pretty Woman, and as such I had watched both. At the time I found them to fundamentally be the same story of power and desire, but the distinction was that Almodovar investigated this dynamic in the story whilst Pretty Woman managed to both cloak and celebrate it (alongside a tacked on "oh yeah and she can say she saves him back so it’s cool " although it would have been nice to interrogate emotional labour, capital, and heteronormativity.
Anyway, I should have known that with thoughts like those as a young, I would go on to study film and tv and now onmedia…It’s also why I don’t participate here as much as I’d like: I’m just going to bore and annoy you all more than I already do.
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Well I would love to hear all your ‘boring’ observations. There are important films that easily lend themselves to that sort of close analysis. One could (and folks HAVE) written articles comparing, say, The Substance and The Ugly Stepsister, two excellent films that both deal with societal beauty standards for women through the genre of body horror.
But it can be equally fun to apply that rigor to shiny expensive crap (say, the latest Jurrasic Park entry) as well as low budget passion projects (Shane Carruth’s Primer) or even ridiculous deliberate trash like the infamous (and hysterical) Velocipastor!!!
So please, by all means, let us expand our examination of Weyland-Yutani corporation’s moral degeneracy in the hyper capitalist world as represented by Ian Holm, Paul Reiser, and Lance Henriksen’s characters in the Alien franchise… go all in on the homoeroticism inherent in the ‘buddy cop’ dynamic and how this has changed as our social attitudes changed, as demonstrated by a close analysis of the Will Smith / Martin Lawrence relationship in the various Bad Boys films….
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We’ve already discussed it to death. 
I hadn’t even watched it yet, but the students had A LOT to say (mostly about, as you note, viewing it through different lenses).
Good for you for being unplugged! I wanted to see the routines, but was also interested in the commentary, and to see what Johnny Weir would be wearing
We just watched the film About Time - loved it! So charmed. Very Richard Curtis
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Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die (2026) - dir. Gore Verbinski
So, you’re having dinner one evening at Norm’s Diner (an L.A. institution) when a very unkempt dude who looks like he’s wired to a bomb comes in and tells you he is from the future, the world is going to end and he needs seven people to come with him to save the world.
And that is the initial premise to Verbinski’s latest dark sci-fi comedy. The unkempt visitor from the future is Sam Rockwell, who is never less than magnetic. Apart from him, the chief pleasure to be found here is the rather clever way the film has been structured to slowly reveal the mysteries at its center. That the eventual revelations are rather expected and a bit derivative doesn’t make the journey to them any less fun.
If you can, go see this with as little knowledge as possible. It’s a good time.
3.5 of 5 suspicious patty-melts (Anyone who gets the Tom Waits reference, give yourself 10 points)
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Thx for the rec. Hadn’t heard of this one at all. Watching flicks with as little knowledge as possible is our MO.
It’s an original sci-fi story, not based on any previous book, comic, toy, or other IP. It’s what very online movie bro says they want.
And no one is gonna see this and it’ll be on VOD in 3 weeks and some streaming service in 8.
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Perfect! 
RIP Robert Duvall. 95 is a pretty good age to leave the world’s stage, tho.
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I saw Hamnet last Saturday and was truly disappointed with this film. It was too slow and didn’t develop the characters enough or explore the relationship between Agnes and Will enough. There was in fact one sad scene in the film but it did not reduce me to a puddle of tears as one reviewer led me to believe and I’m fine with that. I fail to understand why people like this movie so much and why it got so many Oscar nominations. I saw Chloe Zhao’s film Nomadland and loved it but I was truly disappointed in Hamnet. If you haven’t seen it but want to, wait until you can see it somewhere for free.
I took a look at the Oscar nominations and I haven’t seen any of them other than Hamnet. The movies I like never seem to get nominated 
You should def watch Sinners, ideally on the big screen (if it’s still playing), and Bugonia (not necessarily on the big screen).
I did not care for any of the other nominated movies that I watched so far (Frankenstein, OBAA), but Train Dreams is still on our list.
Couldn’t pay me to watch F1 or Marty Supreme.
